A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to reprographic systems, and more particularly to systems for providing status of reprographic operations.
B. Description of the Related Art
An increasing trend in reprographic devices such as facsimile machines is to increase their memory and improve their scanning speed to reduce operator time. However, users often wait for the completion of reprographic operations such as for the resulting confirmation sheet to ensure that the operation was completed successfully. For example, facsimile machines print confirmation sheets with information on the status of facsimile transmissions. The purpose of such sheets is to provide users with confidence that their documents have been transmitted. However, users must wait for the machine to (i) scan the input document, (ii) store the resulting image in memory, and (iii) complete an attempt to transmit the image before learning whether the operation completed successfully. Because users wait near or in close proximity to the facsimile machine for a confirmation sheet any benefit to the user stemming from increased memory and/or improved scanner time is negated.
Moreover, confirmation sheets, the user interface mechanism to report on reprographic operation status, suffer from several disadvantages. They are often poorly designed, and subject to constraints on layout and font formatting. It is often difficult to determine from the confirmation sheet whether a facsimile transmission succeeded. They are always printed out at the sending machine, usually long after the user has left the machine, and so they perform no useful function. Furthermore, the sheets are kept in a public location and are subject to access or disposal by someone other than the server.
A need therefore exists for a mechanism that provides useful, timely information on the status on operations of reprographic devices such as facsimile machines and networked scanners.